Florida is looking to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second season in a row
As they have done throughout the season and playoffs, the Florida Panthers took care of business on the road in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Florida defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, taking a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Now the scene shifts back to Sunrise, where the Panthers will have an opportunity to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row.
On the flip side, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers will be fighting to keep their season alive.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice knows Florida well very likely end up facing New York’s best punch, though to be fair, both teams have been doing their best to land haymakers since Game 1.
“I think it’s just a continuation of what we’ve seen,” Maurice said. “I think the speed amps up and the team that is closest to their identity wins. Whether it’s an elimination game or not, how fast and quick you can get to your identity wins the gamne.”
While the lineup changes made recently by Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice haven’t necessarily been predicated on wins and losses, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to see him roll out the same lineup that brought the Cats a big win on Thursday.
That being said, the fourth line didn’t play many shifts in the victory. That could mean a re-insertion of Ryan Lomberg and/or Nick Cousins onto the line.
Florida has an optional morning skate on gameday, so we may not find out for sure until pregame warmups.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings ahead of Game 6 against the Rangers:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Vladimir Tarasenko
Steven Lorentz – Kevin Stenlund – Kyle Okposo
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Bradon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
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